SPRINGFIELD – The Pioneer Valley Project and the Greater Springfield NAACP have publically called on Mayor Domenic Sarno to terminate Police Commissioner Cheryl Clapprood and accept a new civilian Police Commission.

As of press time there has been no statement released by Sarno’s office.

City Council President Justin Hurst said a statement to Reminder Publishing, “Once Mayor Sarno says no to the reasonable request of the NAACP and PVP, which he has done on numerous occasions in the past, then I would encourage these same organizations to call on the Department of Justice (DOJ) to negotiate and enter into a consent decree with the Springfield Police Department where any reform plan would be supervised and enforced by a federal judge. This takes the decision making out of the hands of the mayor and the police commissioner who have proven over the years to be a significant impediment when it comes to implementing meaningful reform in our police department. In addition, I would encourage these organizations to begin planning for three years from now. If we have learned anything from our current president it is that the only way to defeat leaders who operate with a Trump-like mentality is at the polls on Election Day. I will support these organizations in both of these efforts, as we all are tired of fighting those insistent on maintaining the status quo here in Springfield.”

The demands from the two organizations are as follows:
• The immediate reinstatement of the Police Commission;
• The removal of Police Commissioner Clapprood and a national search for her replacement;
• An immediate personnel assessment of all current SPD officers (to included previous community complaints, past disciplinary actions and litigation), starting with the Narcotics Unit;
• The public release of a complete description of reforms that have been made by Commissioner Clapprood in the Springfield Police Department within the next 10 days; and the attendance of Mayor Sarno and Commissioner Clapprood at periodic digital community police reform meetings organized by PVP, the NAACP, Mass Senior Action and other community organizations with the first meeting to take place on Nov. 12 at 7 p.m.

Tara Parrish, director of Pioneer Valley Project, said in a written statement, “Let’s make something very clear. Calling for police reform is not anti-police. Any elected official, who claims to support law enforcement, including our mayor, should be making every effort to eradicate any culture of corruption and brutality in our department. To allow a culture in the Police Department that protects bad cops does harm to the many good officers in our department. Even after the DOJ report, our mayor and police commissioner continue to behave as though there’s nothing to see here.”